I was meeting with some fellow members of the
BACPS recently and we got to talking about the ICPS Seed Bank. The seed bank, if you are unaware, is a resource for ICPS members looking to grow carnivorous plants from seed. It's supported by members' seed donations, and lately it's been looking a little bit less awesome than it has in the past. So – along with my fellow carnivorous plant bloggers
Maria and
Natch – we decided to run a
holiday seed drive to get it nice and stocked for the new year!
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| The halcyon days of having infinite Drosera burmannii seed... |
There's lots of info on the
Seed Bank portion of the ICPS site, such as:
When I was first starting out, these articles helped me figure out how to deal with my own seed (I even
made a post about it), so you should read them even if you don't have anything to donate. And if you do, what are you waiting for?
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| I've always enjoyed growing from seed. It's really fun if you've never tried it! |
To make it a little easier, here are some supplies that I've come to like using for seed:
Interfolded wax paper sheets
These are much more convenient that your standard wax paper roll, since they don't curl at the edges. Mine are 10" × 10 3/4", so I basically just cut them in half 4 times to get 16 squares for envelopes. The ones I linked are 12" × 10 3/4", but should still be very easy to use.
#1 coin envelopes
I got tired of folding envelopes pretty quickly, and these were not expensive. I bought 250 at Staples for like $10, but if you want to never run out, that listing I linked is 1500 envelopes for $15.
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| Don't sneeze around your sundew seed. |
What will I be donating? I need to look through my stock of stuff, but definitely
Drosera burmannii Humpty Doo,
Drosera anglica CA × HI, some
Drosera 'Emerald's Envy', and probably some
Drosera oblanceolata. What should you donate?
Drosera,
Sarracenia,
Dionaea,
Byblis,
Drosophyllum, and
Cephalotus all have the longest-lasting seed. However, you better believe that if you have
Pinguicula,
Utricularia, or
Nepenthes seed it will get snapped right up and really appreciated by the community! I'm really hoping to see some of the rarer
Byblis come out of this drive, as well as maybe some South American sundews.
The address to donate is
International Carnivorous Plant Society
Seed Bank
2121 N. California Blvd., Suite 290
Walnut Creek, CA 94596-7351
If you decided to donate, post on the
Facebook event page, or use the hashtag #ICPSHolidaySeedDrive to share pictures of yourself or your piles of seed on Instagram or Twitter or whatever. And if you're not a member, don't forget to
join the ICPS! It's a steal at $30/year, gets you access to the seed bank along with quarterly full-color newsletters, and is one of the most important groups in the world for carnivorous plant information and resources. Happy holidays, everyone!
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| Soon... |
I've been wondering where you get those tiny, awesome envelopes. Thanks for the links!
ReplyDeleteAwesome post, Devon. I've got seed envy.